Rating by feature

11
Traveller reviews from Holiday Watchdog

Not so good

On arrival we had a twin room (we'd asked speficially for a double) and also over looking the theatre/disco at the back of the hotel which boomed out music till the early hours.

The next day we moved rooms to a sea front facing room which was lovely.

We found the whole resort catered for Italians, the pool side music, the acqua classes, the service and also the food which was a little disappointing. We found the food to be the same most days but with a little different 'twist' to it.

All this aside the staff we did make friends with and were able to communicate were extremely friendly.

Personally I will not be going back there."

Holiday details

Travel date: Fri 23rd of May 2008

Hated every minute

2

Poor

by beenaroundtheworld_8

"Be aware this hotels 4 star rating is a local egyptian rating.
The hotel is a 1-2 star at tops if even.
Our room was fine although was situated next to the dive shop so were woken every morning about 6 with them loading the dive equipment and filling the airtanks - not so great. Also near by was a really loud hotek which kept us awake until about 3am...not really what you want from a holiday when you ahve come to chill out and get a rest!
The staff at reception were helpful - everywhere else in the hotel they were arrogant, ignorant, rude and very unaware of personal hygiene.
We foolishly booked All inc which seemed like a good idea til we got there.
The restaurant was vile. As soon as we walked in the first morning I knew we had made a bad move. the first thing that hits you is the smell of the dishwasher which for a large hotel is bound to be unpleasant - it smelt of drains as soon as you walked in. there were no clean tables and no one to direct you where to sit and to acknowledge your arrival to then clean a table. Instead we cleaned it ourselves. Breakfast was okay if you like fruit as that was about the only edible thing there. There were no glasses or cups and usually a lack of plates and bowls as well - you could ask the staff but as I said before whether they got round to helping you out or not was pot luck!
We decided that nothing can go wrong if you are just lying on a sunbed and chilling in the sun....we were wrong. The pool area stunk of drains, there was constant drilling and building work going on as well as loud and noisy guests who were clearly taking advantage of the all inclusive local drinks and getting their fill of the local beer from as early as possible.
The bar staff were just as rude and would ensure they smoked the rest of their cigarette or finished their own drink before serving you - IN a small plastic cup.
Basically this place was our worst nightmare the food in the restaurant was disgusting and pretty much inedible. I ate some plain rice on the 1st night and even that tasted wrong.....
Basically this hotel is for anyone that has never been anywhere before and thinks a local beer being free by the pool is luxury. Do not go here if you have ever stayed anywhere with a bit of class, service or if you enjoy good food. Expect nothing and that is what you will get. (suffice to say we moved ourselves on the 2nd day to the Hilton Dreams resort for only Â£150 more for the week and had a lovely rest of week!!)"

Holiday details

Travel date: Mon 21st of April 2008

Nice Hote

5

Brilliant

by rjmcjm

"On arrival egpyt is a bit intimidatins as alot of security surrounding airport and every time you enter hotel you have to go thought a security alarm.
The hotel itself is spotless. The gardens are beautiful and maintained better than any hotel i have stayed in. The location is isolated but if you are looking for a relaxing around the pool or private beach holiday this is great..
The beach is a few metres away with all inclusive bar and is private to hotel guests. We never had a problem with sunbeds around pool or beach. For the children the beach is lovely as you could paddle for a long way our. The hotel has three pool which two are warm enough.
the one downside of staying around pool is that this hotel caters for mainly italian guest 95% i would say therefore all entertainment is in italian and the entertainment around pool is very noisy at times as it is all done on loud speaker.
We were originally wanting to stay in sham town, naaama bay area. but after visiting on one occasion we were glad we didnt! It is only a 15minute taxi jouret cosint Â£16 return. But sham is 10 times worse than London. You cannot cross the road for fear of your life they are mad! Taxis everywhere with no patience and horns bibbing everywhere. If you had a hotel within this it would drive you mad. Im afraid egyptians are after you for money every way you turn. You cannot browse a shop without being hassled into buying and they can get very snotting if you dont buy.
Also no egyptian does anything for you without wanting a tip in return. We even went into KFC and they got snotty as we didint tip enough!! Even at airport they get you a trolly but its not for free they want a tip for it! I think they see English as full of money
Im also afraid that at beginning of week we would have returned we changed our minds as we all becam ill. We all either had diarrhoea or my 2 year old was sick for 3 days costing me 160 euro Doctor bilL. The Doctor was very nice but basically tried all sorts of potions which didnt seem to do any good and he tried to diagnose flu which was absolute rubbish he wouldnt admit it was the water or food she had eaten I think he just wanted to bump up bill! As another English lady had gone to him with what looked to me as insect bites but he said it was an allergy and gave you an injection again costing money! When we got to the airport everyone we spoke to had had some kind of sickenss or diarrhoea on the visit. We didnt drink their water but who knows what they wash their food in or do they even refill the water machine with tap water?
It was a shame this country is know for illness as you wouldnt get a hotel like this for anywhere else and the weather in March anywhere else.

I also had a problem that when we checked out they seemed to stal lus this became clear as they had sent someone to check our room. When they returned they said we had broken the key for. Which was a total lie as it worked perfectly few minutes earlier. Again maybe they just wanted more money!
Last thing food again is very italian if you dont like pizza pasta its not for you. We only had chip one day! Not many veg either"

Holiday details

Travel date: Tue 15th of April 2008

Good value for money- child friendly

4

Good

by didi0875

"Holidays as we knew and once loved ie packing a rucksack and heading off into the unknown are now a long distant memory since the arrival of the 2 loves of our lives 4 and 2 years ago. Holidays are now a child focused expedition and as a result we found ourselves on our first ever all inclusive package holiday. Having only booked 3 days before flying out we didn't really have time to do too much homework into the Belvedere and I'm glad we didn't as the majority of reviews are so negative we would have been put off from going.

If you pay only a few hundred pounds per person for 7 nights all inclusive you can't exactly expect the standards of a UK 5 star hotel and therefore we weren't exctly surprised by some aspects of the hotel being a bit rough round the edges. However on the whole we were very pleased with almost everything during our stay. Yes, there were a lot of Italians and Russians but that made for some interesting people watching. The entertainment is also geared to the Italians as an Italian company BRAVO clearly has most of its beds in Egypt in this hotel but you don't need a degree in Italian to join in Aqua aerobics, dancing lessons, petanque etc. The Italian reps and Egyptian hotel staff were all more than pleasant and helpful and the hotel was spotless: from the cutlery and plates in the dining room to the gardens and pathways round the grounds.

The hotel extends right to the sea and the 2 pontoons which take you out to some coral reefs make for some very safe snorkellling so much so that our 4 year old even attempted it.

family rooms are an ample size although check the patio door lock is working properly as we could open ours from the outside when we first arrived. A maintenance guy appeared within minues though and the problem was solved.

Food was wonderful. Don't go if you want typical UK rubbish such as chips, burgers and stodge as you wont get it. However you will get lots of fresh salad, vegetables, pasta, seafood, breads and fruit. There are also some amazing cakes if you have any room left.

All in all we had a lovely stay in a clean, safe, child friendly hotel and would go back in a minute"

Holiday details

Travel date: Sun 6th of April 2008

good italian hotel

4

Good

by marina_pe

"I have been first time in Egypt, also I went there alone, so befor to choose this hotel I was reading a lot of review in the internet. About Sol y Mar Belvedere there were almost all good review only, just peoples told that problem is in hotel's animation because it's for italians only. Usually I spend a lot of attention to service, food and territory, travelers wrote that everything from this points are perfect, now I can confirm that they didn't say lies :) Really stuffs are very attentionful and friendly, they are speaking italian very good but also they understand english and even they try to learn russian because usually russians are not speak other languages )) Food was perfect, fresh. Animation programs really are for italians but anyway sometimes animators tryed to spend attention for other turists too, especially I would like to allocate Antonio, he really was very attentionful for everybody and he's very active always. But anyway club "Bravo" must to think about forighn tourists also, because italian turists make about 50-70% maybe so 30-50% turists from other countrys would prefered to get attention too, maynot to do discrimination. By the way italians are very nice nation, they are very friendly and cheerful, I found there several nice italians friends, we spent a lot of time together and also I was going to moto-safary with italian group )) Finally I want to say that hotel is really good, so if you want to have nice calm holiday I advise to choose just this hotel. Have fun with Sol y Mar Belvedere! ;))"

Holiday details

Travel date: Tue 25th of December 2007

first class hotel

5

Brilliant

by pyperglasgow

"Myself and my husband stayed for 11 nights in october. The hotel was first class the staff were very helpfull and nice. We were the only Scottish couple there but that did not stop us enjoying everything about the hotel even although it is geared for Italians. The food was excellent and we made friends with "ZICO" who ran the t-shirt shop at the hotel he took us to Old Sharm for dinner and showed us around. We are going back next year and are still in contact with Zico. The weather was very hot and I would recommend this hotel for a very relaxing holiday"

Holiday details

Travel date: Mon 19th of November 2007

Fantastic weather, shame about the Hotel

1

Awful

by ramirer_horlando

"I guess when you lay down a good few hundred (British) pounds for what is classed as a five star luxury resort there is always an expectation of a minimum level of customer service. Congratulations to the crew of Sol Y Mar Belvedere, they certainly found new lows and managed to crash all my levels of service expectations within one day. The only level of consistency I found was the continued abysmal service throughout my stay.

As for the infrastructure itself hotel is borderline decadent, rooms are clean and reasonably equipped, pool and beach are clean. The food was in offensive.

Visit Sharm el Sheikh the weather is extraordinary, but thatâs about it!

Next time Four seasons."

Holiday details

Travel date: Thu 8th of November 2007

Great place, BUT...

3

Average

by Timtiririm

"Hi there,

Writing a review on your holidays is not the easyest thing. That is because, firstly I don't know where to start from and secondly because don't want to be unfare to anyone or anything. And I'll try hard for that. I stayed in Belvedere for 9 days last july. I was there with my wife on our honeymoon. The hotel is really nice with very beautyfull and rich interior, amazing pool and very nice gardens. There are three bars and two restaurants. The rooms are fine as well, and everything looks better than what you expect, taking into account that this is one of the cheapest holyday packages you'll find. I mean Egypt in generall. So after we settled ourselfs in the room we went straight to the beach. Although the pool is very nice we're not pool-funs. We prefer the sea. The first great thing is that the beach is an extension of the hotel. Next to the pool, next to the rooms, next to everything. The next great thing is that the beach and the sea are really nice. Clean sand, free sunbeds and umbrellas, and you only needed a pair of googles to see amazing fish. Yellow with black dots, blue, black with white stripes and red and orange corals. Perfect. Lets talk a bit about the restaurants now. The fish restaurant is the one you have to book from the day before and is not all-inclusive. However is really cheap for what you get. A four course meal with a bottle of good white wine E35 pp. Very nice food including lobster. The normal all-inclusive restaurant unfortunatly is nothing like that. At first you are surprised with the large variety of food. Later though, you realise that nothing is well cooked and every day they offer the same things. Small changes. Ofcourse that has to do with the food standards you have. If you grew up with take-aways then propably that will be the best food ever. Bar wise now, complete diappointment. The bars are not well equipped and the people who work behind the bars don't have a clue about bartending. The locally produced spirits are as good as diesel and the most complicated coctail you may get is spirit+juice+syrop(in any given order). Sometimes in a plastic cup with no ice.So you better go for the desent lager on the tap in a cold but not very clean glass. The hotel caters mostly Italians and Russians. I didn't have any problem with anyone. Everybody was happy and kind. The problem is the stuff(which is only men. no working women whatsoever). And what I'm about to say here is valid for almost everyone and everywhere in Sharm El Sheikh.
First of all they all speak fluent Italian and really, reaaallyyy BAD English. Many of them, not at all. Being Greeks who live in London, me and my wife had the following problem. Greek and Italian people look very much alike so everybody was talking italian to us. OK I understand that, but even when we were repling in english they were still talking italian to us. Anyway, using half-english, half-italian, half-greek, half-arabic we manage to survive. The worst thing was the attitude. Many egyptian people don't seem to understand the word 'respect' the way we, or at least I do. Especially towards women. When we decided to go to Egypt I advised my wife to take more conservative clothes with her and leave the mini skirts and revealling tops for Europe. And that in respect to their religion and threir women. I cannot say they showed the same respect towards as. They don't seem to know where to draw the line between outgoing/sociable and disrespectful. Anyway, there're always good exceptions. I really don't want to prevent anyone from visiting Egypt. It is a beautifull country with loads of history and culture to offer, just not ready yet to acomodate the huge amount of tourism it gets. At least I wouldn't recomend it for Honeymoon, where you want everything to be just perfect.

Thanks for reading my review,

Tim"

Holiday details

Travel date: Mon 3rd of September 2007

Italian hotel

2

Poor

by erikaaah

"The hotel stuff is terrible. If you not italian,you do not exist. Show is in italian.Good rooms for It. Food is italian,not arabian. Stuff doesnÂ´t work without baksish(tip) . Pitty you not italian,you may have to born again, but next time in italy :(((((((((("

Holiday details

Travel date: Sun 22nd of July 2007

Fantastic Holiday!

5

Brilliant

by kingpi

"This was a fabulous place to stay and guarranteed sun in Sharm too. The hotel was largely geared to the Italians with Italian reps, but all spoke good english and were very helpful. All the staff and reps were very courteous and intent on making our stay the best that it could be. The italians really know how to let their hair down and have a good time, so it was great for us to join in the fun. The food was gorgeous, buffet very extensive with something for everyone. Cocktails were delicious, even more so as they were part of the all inclusive! Pool area was very nice with large shady parts where you could get out of the sun if need be. There was some snorkelling to be done off the hotel beach, but if you want some proper snorkelling then a day trip to Ras Mohammed Marine Reserve would probably suit - couple of other people said this was fantastic, we opted not to go because of time constraints. The hotel also offers shuttle bus' to Naama Bay and Sharm in the evening, we did a trip to Naama Bay which was very enjoyable - lots of restaurants (including Hard Rock Cafe), clothes shops, touristy shops and jewellers. The rooms were clean and well appointed - but mini bar is only filled on request and will be charged - I recommend you take a water bottle with you that you can fill up at the bar and take to the room of an evening with you. Also if you are a great wine lover, you may want to take your own or pay for the imported stuff as the Egyptian wine is a little rough. The hotel is relatively close to the airport about 10/15 minutes taxi ride, but didn't really notice any air traffice noise. The taxi should cost you anywhere between Egyptian Â£80 and 120 - also recommend you book a collection through your hotel will be the cheapest option. All in all a fantastic trip and I would go back in a heartbeat."